Unlikely international sex symbol Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, former defense lawyers for Steven Avery, the Manitowoc, Wis., man exonerated on a rape charge and subsequently convicted in 2005 for the murder of photographer Teresa Halback, announced this week they are launching a North American tour.
The two lawyers were key figures in the Netflix original series Making a Murderer, released on Dec. 18, which captivated the nation and created a feeding frenzy for information connected to the case.
After the success of the series, Dateline NBC jumped on the story at the end of January, and Investigation Discovery cable network ran a one-hour special, Steven Avery: Innocent or Guilty?, on Jan. 30.
Around that same time, Strang and Buting announced they would participate in a moderated discussion at Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater on March 18. A portion of the $45.50 ticket sales will go toward “equal justice charities in Wisconsin,” according to the Pabst/Riverside website. This hasn’t stopped Facebook users on the event’s page from excoriating the lawyers for taking the gig. As one poster wrote:
I am still on the fence about Steven Avery's guilt, but this is just... Wrong. Regardless of whether that man is innocent or not, these attorneys are profiting from [Teresa Halback’s] death. This makes me so uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, the documentarians, who spent 10 years assembling the first season, told Variety they are considering a second season.
The “Conversation on Justice Tour” launches on April 16 in Boston, and the lawyers will criss-cross the nation, hitting New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle, among other major stops, winding up in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., at the end of August.
Will the public’s fascination continue through the spring and summer? Sheila Kenny, from Right On!, the public relations firm that is promoting the tour, has little doubt the tour will be a success. “I think it will still be relevant, and even more people will be interested,” says Kenny, calling it “a conversation long overdue. She referred Isthmus to an online trailer for the tour.
“It’s a chance to reach hundreds and maybe even thousands of people in a given evening and draw them into a conversation about criminal justice, how we administer it in this country, what the strengths and weaknesses are,” Strang says in the video. “It’s a wonderful moment to continue the conversation that probably should extend into other aspects of the criminal justice system about how justice is administered, especially for those who don’t have many advantages.”
“In essence, this is sort of a director’s cut of what experiences we had and what lessons we’ve learned from that case and other cases in our career," adds Buting.
Strang could not be reached for comment, but his press contact, Rachel Berkowitz of Mueller Communications, confirmed that “a portion of the speakers' proceeds from the event will be donated to local and national equal justice charities.”
